Hour 3

Google revamps Gmail with new features, how to make Google Calendar the default on iPhone, is your smartphone spying on you? How to add 911 capability to Amazon Echo, a website that will walk you through cutting the cable, how to fully uninstall programs, best TV antennas, and more of your calls with Rich DeMuro!

Audience Questions

Audience QuestionsHour 1

Kevin wants to know if he should wait to get a new iPad Pro. Apple will be announcing a new one either at WWDC in June or sometime this fall. Rich says that nobody really knows when Apple is putting out a product, but there is a website that keeps track of when previous models have been released. Kevin should check out BuyersGuide.macrumors.com. They give recommendations on the best time to buy Apple products. According to the buyers guide, the 10.9" iPad Pro is due for a refresh since it was introduced at WWDC last year. The 12.5" is a little longer. So if he's looking at the larger iPad Pro, it's a good time to buy. But if he wants the smaller one, it's probably best to wait until after WWDC to pull the trigger.

Rich says it'll be a headache to try and mash up everything together. He recommends returning the SmartThings system and getting SimpliSafe. It's turnkey, and has everything he'll need. It's also easy to set up.

Christine hates the iPhone Calendar. She wants her Google Calendar to be the default. Rich says that iOS is sandboxed and there's no way to set a default app that would send her information where she wants. Rich recommends going into the iPhone's calendar settings and setting Google Calendar as her main calendar. Then all she will see is the Google Calendar. It's still using the iPhone calendar app, but it's all her Google Calendar information. That's about as good as she can get it.

Frank is having issues with Firefox. He loses his logins, bookmarks, etc when logging into another computer. Rich says Frank needs to turn on Sync in Firefox in order to see them from computer to computer. The other option is to use Safari on his computer since he also uses an iPad.

Jeff has a Brother printer, and every few hours, it loses its connection to his network and he has to sign back in. Rich says that the printer may go to sleep and if he presses the button on the printer, it wakes it up and the computer finds it again. But Jeff says he has tried it, and Windows still says it's offline. Jeff says it may also need a firmware update.

Audience QuestionsHour 2

Erin is on her fourth Microsoft Surface tablet and it keeps failing on her. Microsoft keeps replacing it, but she's nearing the end of her warranty and is worried that once it passes, she'll out of luck. Rich says he's had a similar issue and he's read that this is a more widespread problem. Depending on how she paid for it, some credit cards have an extended warranty. But she'll also have lemon law protection.

Ellen is concerned that with a camera, microphone and GPS, that her phone could be spying on her. Rich says that one company, ZTE, was banned in the US because its phone was collecting user information and phoning home with it. But Rich says that was probably a software issue. Phones aren't really spying on people, per se. But when she signs up for free services like Facebook, they are aggregating a lot of user behavior that is used to push ads to her. It seems like spying, but it's more that it provides information for her based on her interests and online behavior. Whether Ellen thinks it's a good thing is another matter, but it's in the terms of service agreement.

Jerry wants to know if he can bypass local stations and still get network programming. Rich says networks are all setup to route through the local station. He can't really get a raw feed that bypasses it.

Chester had to return a phone, and he wants to know how he can get the old photos off it? He's told he has to get them off the cloud, because the phones were returned. Rich says that if his phone didn't have a miniSD card that the images were saved on, they're probably gone. If he turned on cloud backup, however, he may find them there. Samsung has a service called Samsung Cloud. He should log in and see if he can find them there. This is why he should have more than one backup solution. Google Photos is a good one.

Audience QuestionsHour 3

Maurice says that Echo is a great idea, and Amazon's $35 Connect box makes it possible to call 911 in emergency situations. Rich says that Echo is designed to not dial 911 because the infrastructure isn't set up for it yet. That's why the optional connect box is a good idea until they get it figured out. But it also has to do with location services for 911. It has to know where the emergency really is.

Gary needs a new TV and wants to cut the cord. Rich suggests checking out Untangle.tv. It will walk him through the process of cord cutting and recommend streaming services based on what he wants to watch. He will have to keep his internet service to stream it, however. And for some channels, he may need an antenna, and it comes down to where he lives on whether or not that will be practical. He'll need line of sight to the broadcast antennas. AntennaWeb.org can help there too.

David uninstalled some software, but he still gets a program error. Rich says when uninstalling a program, sometimes not everything gets removed because the uninstaller isn't complete. Rich recommends using the website ShouldIRemoveIt.com.

Joyce is getting a new TV. Who makes the best digital antenna that can boost the signal? She gets some terrible coverage, even though the FCC says her signal should be moderate. Rich says that the FCC's rating is conditional. She may not get as good as it says she can. Rich says that the Mohu Leaf is a good one but not for Joyce's situation. The Leaf Glide is a better model for $90.

This Week in Tech News

There's a huge security flaw in WINRAR, that will enable hackers to take over your computer. So Leo advises that if you use WINRAR to zip/unzip your files, that you should update to the latest beta version. But you have to go to the WINRAR site and manually download the update. There is no automatic update.

Accusing Apple of anti competitive behavior, Spotify's music streaming service says that the company charges a 30% commission for subscriptions through the Apple store, while charging 30% less for their own music service.

Leo bought the Samsung Galaxy S10+, a phone with 10TB of storage, 12GB of RAM, and a ceramic back. For $1500. Leo says it's a really nice phone. Reviews are mixed, but buyers seem to like it, with preorders doubling the last generation. Samsung has avoided "the notch," but instead, they have a "hole punch," which houses two selfie cameras. Is that any different than the notch? Not really. It's also nearly as big as the Note 9 and has the best screen on the market. But Leo says it's so fast that it's hyper-responsive. It reacts to being touched on the edge. It also has three cameras on the back. It also has an under-screen fingerprint ID, which isn't very fast and requires a little patience. AND IT HAS A HEADPHONE JACK!

In a new announcement, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Facebook is moving towards a more privacy-focused experience, including encryption, private groups, and more. Zuckerberg admitted that Facebook doesn't have a reputation for security and privacy, and they plan to change all that. With sharing on Facebook going down by 25%, especially with younger users, Zuckerberg says that the social media network is going to move from a town square, to your own living room. It's a serious PIVOT. Leo says that Zuckerberg has made promises like this before, so we'll have to wait and see what happens. Is it possible to have a privacy-focused Facebook? Only time will tell, but Leo says it's a good idea.